Hulking, tattooed front man of seminal punk band Black Flag and later the Rollins Band, spoken word artist, author of several prose/poetry books, actor, TV and radio host, entrepreneur, outspoken activist, blogger and all-around force of nature. By the age of 30 he had written, sung, performed, acted and published more material in more varied mediums than many artists could aspire to during their entire life.

Henry Rollins (February 13, 1961-) is quite intelligent, and despite his imposing physical appearance and manic performance style, he is a nice guy and something of a nerd, embracing the Internet and other technology at the cutting edge. (This may be because he initially cultivated the whole "physically imposing" deal to cope with rowdy, often-violent Black Flag shows).

In 1991, Henry and Joe Cole were accosted by a gunman and Henry watched his best friend get murdered in front of him by a gunshot to the head. Henry escaped unharmed, but this event was a considerable influence on his work for some time as reflected in a lot of his writing and spoken word afterward.

Now in his fifties, Henry is still in the same physical shape he has always been and is actively performing, writing, touring and kicking ass as much as ever.

If you would like to see a full list of everything he has published during his career, your best bet is to visit his official website at 21361.com or go look at The Other Wiki - it is enough to fill a(nother) book.

Tropes embodied by Henry's work:

Abusive Parents: Some of his stories of his childhood and high school years.

A Date with Rosie Palms: Has several bits about it, including one describing thinking about himself masturbating while masturbating as his fodder.

Rollins: "What are you doing in Denmark?" I-I played tonight! "You did?" Yes, I was the opening band, I saw you staring at me! "You played? I just remember Iggy Pop." [Iggy]'s just like *finger flick* dink.

Badass/Badass Grandpa: 53 years old, still limitless energy, still publishing and performing and still looks like he could punch through a truck.

Techno music, having railed against it multiple times, particularly Dumbass DJ's who play it and think they are musicians because they can mess with a song list on a Mac book. Of course, his rants have been the fodder for techno remixesfor years now.

Throughout Get In The Van he rails against closed-minded punk rockers he encountered constantly. During a later tour of the UK, he and the band would have the DJ take off the generic punk tape playing over the PA and play a tape of ZZ Top's Eliminator to piss everyone off, and then told everyone it was the new album from [famous punk band], just to further bum them out.

Bourgeois Bohemian: A punk version rather than a hippy version. He is notably the voice of Infinity luxury automobiles.

Cassandra Truth: Went to a voice specialist doctor for chronic vocal problems. When asked to list all the drugs, drink and smokes he does daily, the doctor refused to believe him when he said "zero" (granted, he was looking at his vocal chord x-ray at the time, which resembled Lemmy from Motorhead's more than a clean living guy, due to Henry's aggressive vocal styling).

"Ok Henry, we'll go with that for now, but when you're ready to tell the truth, just let me know."

Expecting Someone Taller: Covered in tattoos and muscles with a reputation for kicking large amounts of ass, and on the lower side of average height at about 5'9".

Free the Frogs: A humorous version on The Boxed Life. While he was attending a Military Academy / private school as a teen, his dissection frog escaped and the boys in the class had to chase it around. "It was cute, like something from that Robin Williamsmovie."

Gallows Humor: When he hit his 50th birthday, Henry commissioned some artwork and photos that confronted the issues of aging head on. This poster◊ for a speaking tour shows him in his Superman-esque outfit from the "Liar" video, while the Grim Reaper peers over his shoulder. In two photos taken for a Billboard interview around the same time, one shows the Grim Reaper chasing Rollins while another shows the singer wearing Depends over the Superman outfit.

Genius Bruiser: The man is big, smart, and has performed or published material in just about every medium that exists. His stage presence is one of a barely-controlled explosion. He will verbally destroy you with logic and common sense at the drop of a hat, and then when you are on the ropes, he will drop a Precision F-Strike to devastating effect; good thing he is a good guy.

Lampshading The Obscure Reference: When working in a science lab, he would write Devo on his chemical protective suit (as they looked like something Devo would wear onstage, hell, probably was), to the bafflement of the middle aged scientists working there. He would then proceed to make of them for being out of touch, despite at the time Devo being a fairly obscure band.

While in line to get tickets at a Kiss show, a drug-addled, white trash meathead ahead of him in line recognized him and began gushing about his work to him, making Henry uncomfortable to have such a...specimen of humanity be a fan of his.

The entirety of the Eric the Pilot saga (the whole tale takes up an entire spoken word disc). Henry's flight got cancelled to a gig in Oklahoma, and as he scrambled for a new flight out of St. Louis, a "pilot" approached and said he would take him on his small charter plane. The plane got completely lost and made an emergency landing in a tiny air strip in the middle of nowhere. Turns out Eric a) was not a licensed pilot (still in training) and b) had taken the plane without permission. He was just a huge fan trying to impress and help his idol.

Henry describes himself as one when meeting various musicians, authors and actors he idolizes. Particularly King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew when working with him on a William Shatner album in Nashville.

Ben Foldsnote producer for the album: "Oh no, are you a Trekkie for Adrian Belew?!"

Nerds Are Sexy: He is not just a big guy who yells a lot. Not only does he embrace technology, but he yells at you to take every advantage you can of it for your own betterment. Often sports Nerd Glasses for extra points.

Customer: "...why the hell would you put rat poison in the toppings selection?'

Ian: "Sir, we just thought you'd want the option."

Urban Legend: As per the Promoted Fanboy on the trivia tab, the exact details of his joining Black Flag are murky. The popular version (and told by Rollins in his Get in the Van bio) is that Henry simply took a train to see them in New York, and jumped onstage (or was invited to in the spur of the moment) as they played "Clocked In" for him before he had to get on the train to go to work back in D.C. Others have suggested they were already considering him, having already formed a friendship with him and having listened to his EP from his previous band State of Alarm, then somewhat discussed the possibility of him coming on stage to sing with them ahead of time. Even Henry's own retelling of the event years later does not seem to keep the details straight.

Walking Shirtless Scene: Henry raised eyebrows for sporting a muscle-bound physique and often performing shirtless, which did not fit into many peoples' perceptions of what punks looked like.

What Happened to the Mouse?: Quite literally. One of his tales from his days working odd jobs as a teen includes his time as a gofer in a science lab, and how one lab rat due for experimentation managed to escape. The staff never located it. Eventually, the entire grouping of rats were put down, and as they closed the door on the room for the last time before it was dismantled/sterilized, the rat made his final escape out the closing door, never to be seen again. The rat became Henry's personal hero.

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